JLAS District News

LEWISTON — The Johannesburg-Lewiston (J-L) Area Schools board of education adopted a resolution Monday to put a three-tenths mill levy request to voters in May for the purchase of a half dozen new school buses over the next five years.

If approved at the May 8 election, J-L superintendent Jim Hilgendorf said the millage would raise a total of around $500,000 by the end of the five year request. Hilgendorf said with cuts to public school funding over the past several years the district’s general fund budget just does not allow for the purchase of new busses as older ones need to be replaced.

“We’re just running out of money and don’t have it in the general fund,” Hilgendorf said.

In 2009 voters approved a three-year six-tenths millage request for enhanced technology for new computers, infrastructure updates and other upgrades. As a result of the earlier refinancing of a 2.65 mill building bond, taking it down to 2.2 mills and later rolled back to 1.6 mills, voters approved the technology request — which has now expired — and resulted in a combined 2.2 mill levy for the building bond and new technology millage.

Hilgendorf said the building bond would be paid off in 2016, the same year as the three-tenths bus purchase request millage if passed.

Because of changes to the state equalized value (SEV) the current building bond rate stands at 1.9 mills which would result in a total millage rate of 2.2 mills if voters approve the three-tenths of a mill request for new buses.

Hilgendorf emphasized the request would not result in an increase in property taxes for residents in the J-L district.

As with the technology millage which could only be used for technology related items, Hilgendorf said revenue generated for new buses through the upcoming millage request may only be used for the purchase of buses.

Hall of Fame Class of 2012:
Ewing owned record book while starring for Cardinals
By Matt Wenzel ~ Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG — The Johannesburg-Lewiston football team celebrated three-straight playoff appearances from 1998-2000, making it as far as the State Semifinals in 1998.

Under coach Fred Davis, the Cardinals dominated opponents during that era, posting a 26-6 record (including the three playoff losses) and outscored their opponents 1,253-371. That is an average blowout of 39-12 per game.

Marcus Ewing’s induction into the Greater Otsego County Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 4, is due in large part to his contributions to these teams as the running back.

“My sophomore year going to the Semifinals was a great experience,” Ewing said. “I was pretty fortunate to be on a lot of very good teams and being successful early definitely prepared me.”

Ewing’s name is scattered throughout the record books of J-L football. While opponents averaged 12 points per game from 1998-2000, Ewing himself could have won a game or two alone, averaging just above 10 points per game during that time.

He ranks No. 2 in the Cardinals’ record books for the following categories: yards rushing in a season (1,655); career rushing touchdowns (53); season scoring (156); scoring in a game (32); career scoring (322); and longest kickoff return for a touchdown (85).

In 1999 during a game against Bellaire, Ewing scored five touchdowns in a single quarter, a statistic that ties a Michigan High School Athletic Association record to this day.

During a “short stint” at quarterback in his junior season, he threw for 314 yards during a game against Mancelona, which ranks second among Cardinals’ passers. His six touchdown passes that game is tops on the J-L list.

A four-sport athlete, Ewing was part of a 2000 District champion baseball team, collaborating with one of his favorite coaches.

“All of the coaches I had were great, but Coach (Rick) Guild and playing baseball were really great experiences,” Ewing said. “I got to work with him beginning in junior high through high school and he really had an impact.”

As much of an impact Ewing’s coaches had on him, it is his father, Barry, who gave him his most valuable support. “Outside of sports, my father was my biggest influence,” he said. “He didn’t ever push me to play, but he was the one that would spend the hours getting me to open gym or throwing the ball around in the yard. “My work ethic, being a team player, discipline —
those things came from him.”

Although Marcus Ewing made a name for himself on the gridiron, he also excelled in baseball, basketball and even a little track during his time at Johannesburg-Lewiston from 1997-2001.

Ewing made the jump from small-town star to college standout when he spent four years on the Saginaw Valley State University football team. As a running back, Ewing was crowned the team’s Offensive MVP in 2005.

Ewing now resides in Rochester Hills.

Hall of Fame Class of 2012: Davis built into J-L lore
By Matt Wenzel, Staff Writer ~ Gaylord Herald Times

GAYLORD — Fred Davis can relax easily from 2,000 miles away in his home in Las Vegas knowing that the state of Johannesburg-Lewiston sports is in good hands. If there were any reservations from the man who was a strong part of the Cardinal sporting history books for more than three decades, not many would fault him.

It was under Davis’ watch that J-L’s football team made 13 trips to the playoffs, including an appearance in the State Semifinals of 1998.

Davis coached from the dugout during an improbable run by the softball team in 1981, also making it to the State Semifinals.

Admitting that he “didn’t know much about track” was no deterrent to coaching a couple of Regional runner-up teams and All-State pole vaulters.

His run in Cardinals’ athletics began 35 years ago when a friend and former J-L teacher warned him about the area.

“In 1976, I had just graduated and was looking for a job,” Davis said. “A friend of mine, Harvey Miller, was a teacher at Johannesburg-Lewiston and told me that if I went there, I would never want to leave.”

The prediction of his friend was true. Beginning in 1976 as an assistant football coach, Davis’ career spanned 33 years and many memorable teams.

One of his favorites was not a championship team — not even a playoff team.

“In 1976, we had a great team,” he said. “We went undefeated, beat Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, but didn’t make the playoffs. There was some really good players on that team — Joe Bush, Jim Agren, Dave Wilson and Leo Mioduszewski.”

Did he feel slighted by not making the playoffs?

“High school (football) was never meant to go for 14 or 15 weeks,” Davis said. “Even the pros get a bye week. By the time you scrimmage and go through the season, you’re a shadow of the team you were at the start with the injuries and the amount of games played.”

Another memory came from a team that did make the playoffs in Davis’ final year as coach in 2009. “We made three rounds into the playoffs, and we weren’t supposed to be good,” he said. “They didn’t pick us to win five games and we won 10.”

For a team to rise to the occasion and become better than it is supposed to requires a family dynamic. This is one aspect that Davis believes makes athletics an important part of the lives of youth. “A lot of kids grow up in single-parent homes, and sports gives those kids a chance for an identity, to foster relationships,” Davis said. “Everyone was always part of the football family.”

Of course, family starts at home. Davis’ wife, Linda, has been there through it all and has received the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association award for Woman of the Year because of her own devotion to the sport.

“You can’t coach for 30 some years without the your family being behind you,” he said. Commenting on the longevity of football coaches at J-L, Davis said, “Since 1976, we have had five coaches. Most people can’t do that because you need to have supportive families. “While I was coaching, my wife, Linda, would cover the game management. My family was a big part of my success.”

No threat in lock down at J-L
Chris Engle, Staff Writer
Gaylord Herald Times

JOHANNESBURG — A lock down was carried out Thursday morning at Johannesburg-Lewiston Area School to isolate students and teachers from a middle school student who was causing a disturbance.

High school principal Rick Holt said the situation posed no threat to anyone, and the lock down was conducted out of sensitivity to the student.

“A middle school kid was having a bad day and got a little out of control,” Holt said. “You don’t want them to be in the spotlight more than they already are. It was just something you don’t want the other kids exposed to.”

During a lock down classroom doors are shut and students stay in their current class until the lock down is lifted.

Teaching continues as normal.

Middle and elementary school principal Thomas Hausbeck said lock down drills occur every school year just like fire and tornado drills.

Police officers and emergency personnel are involved in lock down drill debriefings to discuss what went smoothly and what might need improvement.

“Sometimes we’re right on target, sometimes there’s a little tweak,” he said. “It’s a good assessment in what we’re doing.”

Hausbeck said lock downs could be instituted so equipment can be moved safely through the hallways, or in a more serious incident where an individual is spotted in or near the school with a weapon.

According to Hausbeck, schools across Northern Michigan created lock down procedures shortly after the shooting that occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999.

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OTSEGO COUNTY — Despite an increase in the number of schools across the state failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), all but one of eight in Otsego County made the grade this year.

Despite receiving a passing grade of a “B” on its Education YES! state report card, the Gaylord Middle School was one of the 21 percent of all public schools which did not make AYP.

According to a Monday news release from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), 79 percent of Michigan’s schools made AYP, which was down from 86 percent the year before.

Education YES! and AYP are the state’s version of a report card that grades overall school and district performance based on a variety of criteria, including subgroups such as special needs students — the one area Brian Pearson, Gaylord Community Schools (GCS) curriculum director, said the middle school faltered slightly in on the MEAP test — resulting in it not making the AYP cut.

“It came down to a subgroup of special needs students,” Pearson said. “They (special needs subgroup) only missed it by three points in Language Arts, otherwise the middle school would have made AYP.”

Pearson explained a subgroup as a minimum of 30 students at a school who are identified by certain criteria whose test scores are used, in part, to determine whether a school is making adequate yearly progress.

“These are the rules we have to live by,” Pearson said, referring to what sometimes may seem an unfair way to determine a school’s success or lack of success, based on a small subgroup of students. “They are making progress from past years and it is manageable issues which we have been working on.”

Pearson said the district is looking at individual scores of those students in the middle school special needs subgroup and has been able to isolate curriculum areas for those students who may need additional help in to improve future test scores.

“Overall, the report cards looked good,” he said. “Our students are doing well on both the MEAP and the MME (Michigan Merit Exam).”

At the elementary level, both North Ohio and South Maple schools made AYP and received an “A” on the state report card, as did Gaylord Intermediate School. Gaylord High School’s state report card reflected a “B” and made AYP.

Johannesburg-Lewiston (J-L) high school and elementary/middle school both made AYP, with the high school receiving a “B” and the J-L Elementary/Middle School combined report card reflected an “A” grade.

Vanderbilt Area School received AYP status and earned a grade of “C” on its state report card.

According to the MDE, the Education YES! report cards are based on student scores on state standardized tests such as the Michigan Assessment Program (MEAP) and Michigan Merit Exam (MME). Other criteria include various self-reported school performance indicators and a school’s AYP designation.

To find school and district AYP and Michigan School Report Card data, as well as Annual Education Reports, visit the new state education information Web site at www.mischooldata.org.

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Johannesburg-Lewiston school layoffs first in more than 20 years
Michael Jones, Staff Writer ~ Gaylord Herald Times

J-L Superintendent Jim Hilgendorf said the decision would make a $275,000 dent in reducing the deficit that has been caused by recent cuts in state funding to schools and a decline in student enrollment for several years.

“The sad part here is that the people we laid off didn’t do anything wrong,” Hilgendorf said of the layoffs, the first in more than 20 years at J-L. “They did a good job, but there just is not a lot of places to go (to cut). This is just rotten.”

He indicated that despite a decline in enrollment, the district had been able to avoid layoffs in the past by not replacing senior staff who retired during the past two years.

“Two years ago we had 55 teachers,” Hilgendorf said. “Last year it was 50. This year we are down to 46 teachers and with the other changes we have had a total reduction in staff of 13 people in the past two years.”

Hilgendorf indicated other cost cutting moves the district will enact include savings realized by not replacing one support staff member who took advantage of a retirement incentive, not replacing a teacher who has taken a leave of absence and two other staff members who left the district.

Changes in administrative duties are expected to result in additional savings. Hilgendorf said Lewiston principal Rick Holt has moved into the J-L high school principal position, which became vacant when principal Will Kearney left to take a school superintendent job downstate at Three Oaks.

Curriculum director Linda Arbogast will take Holt’s former position and has become half-time principal and half-time media director at the school in Lewiston.

Hilgendorf indicated Arbogast’s curriculum duties would be assumed and shared by the district’s administrators.

With student enrollment down from 830 two years ago to an anticipated 790 for the coming school year, Hilgendorf said even though the district has lost staff during that time, those losses will not impact current programs offered to students.

“With the exception of a vocational class, a CAD drafting program, which we didn’t have enough students for, we should be able to offer everything our students need,” he said.

Hilgendorf said because of the decrease in student numbers some sections of certain classes would be eliminated but the classes would still be offered.

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